Borneo Orangutan momma and child

Orandutans are wonderful creatures but really hard to see in the wild away from feeding stations where they know that fruit and vegetables will be provided. We saw these two on a riverbank as we floated along and they seemed pretty curious - which was surprising since wild Orangutans are usually pretty shy. Perhaps they had been to feeding stations already and lost their fear. Unfortunately, such animals can be easily poached which is why naturalists are encouraging the Indonesian National Parks to stop feeding them at the stations - even if the tourists love it.

The Bornean orangutan, ''Pongo pygmaeus'', is a species of orangutan native to the island of Borneo. Together with the Sumatran orangutan, it belongs to the only genus of great apes native to Asia.

The Bornean orangutan has a life span of up to 35 years in the wild; in captivity it can live to be 60. A survey of wild orangutans found that males weigh on average 75 kilograms , ranging from 50–100 kilograms , and 1.2–1.4 metres long; females average 38.5 kilograms , ranging from 30–50.. more